TODAY THE WORD is SMIDGEN. Once in a while, when I wake up, I smile at the word or words which flow through my head. I make no intentional attempt to think about words or thoughts and I love the surprise I receive. Yesterday, I had a discussion about some possible blog topics and they are great ideas, but “smidgen” it is for today. The definition according to Wikipedia, a smidgen is a small amount of something. When I was taught to cook, I did not receive instructions as we are taught today by recipes and measurements. My Mother used descriptive and informative words as “a dash of this” “a smidgen of that” and teaspoons and tablespoons meant the regular spoon we ate with or the larger one we used to dish out the food. A cup was a coffee cup and the palm of the hand was used as a good measuring tool for biscuits. We balled the dough and it fit in our “hand cup”. Chopping was actually chopping without a machine to chop it for us. We used the word smidgen a lot and I am not sure of the origin but I did look it up and it showed:
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mid 19th century: perhaps from Scots smitch in the same sense
The Scots had no idea of the word’s future fame and how millions of great food was measured by a smidgen of this and a smidgen of that. It is right up there with a pinch of salt and has added to our cuisine for centuries. How many of you have not heard or used the word smidgen? Analytically, none of us know how much is a smidgen or a pinch but we know how to add it to a recipe. Now, for the deeper thought…..Do we give smidgens of love to the ones we love the most? Do we add only a small amount of affection to our lives or do we pour it freely? In cooking, it might have been wise to use smidgens or pinches for conservation but love works the opposite; it can’t get too sweet or we can use the spice of life. We seek love in our lives and we consume it daily so it can be renewed by the replenishment we give. Love is not to be stored away on a shelf but can actually “grow” like bread with yeast and is meant to rise. God showed He can multiply bread and wine and feed multitudes with a few fish. We can follow God’s recipe by adding several smidgens until we get piles of love to share with our loved ones and others in need.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Matthew 14:18-21
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.<sup abp="711" class="crossreference" value="(F)”> Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
(c) copyright 2014 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
